New debate on the street, which is the better out of two of Englands brightest talents in midfield.. Jack Wilshere OR Tom Cleverely.
If you're biased you're clearly going to side with one or the other because that's what football fans do! I'm not going to bombard anyone with stats as most football fans in general aren't interested in them, all i'm going to do is offer my opinion.
Tom Cleverely
As a Manchester United fan I appreciate the job what Tom Cleverely does in our team and he's probably more under-rated than he is, over-rated. Considering the midfield options that United have, Cleverely has done a very good job in making a spot in midfield his own as he has to battle with the likes of Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Shinji Kagawa and Anderson who all offer their own specific duty to the team. Having been sent on loan by Sir Alex three times, to three different clubs since he was brought in from Bradford in 2000 and having had a spell throughout the majority of our youth teams i have nothing but praise for the youngster himself. Now he doesn't have the vision as of yet, that the majority of the players i mentioned above do, however he does bring a lot of energy in midfield not to mention he often become an available, unmarked option for you to pass the ball to, to get the ball up the field and out of danger often using one-two's to get out of tight situations. He doesn't score as many goals as most midfielders out there as he's not renown for his shooting ability or finishing ability but he has brought more goals to his game this season than in the past so it can't be a bad thing. Unlike Jack Wilshere most of all, he's made more progress in the first team having missed his first season with the first team with injury, he's coming along nicely to become an integral part of both Englands and Manchester Uniteds team.
Jack Wilshere
Jack Wilshere's done a lot to come back from the injury problems that have plagued his career up until this season which has been a shame, as most football fans enjoy watching him dictate most football matches he plays, one including a certain match against Barcelona in the Champions League which says a lot seeing as Barcelona's midfield have dominated so many games in recent times.
Now what differs from him and Tom Cleverely is that, Jack Wilshere is seen by many as a "playmaker" who can make things happen and makes that his own duty in football matches to supply team-mates with goal scoring opportunities whereas Cleverely is a box-to-box midfielder or just a midfielder who brings his own abilities to whichever team he plays in.
Now despite many saying Jack Wilshere's lacking in first team progress, it turns out he's actually made more first team appearances for Arsenal than Cleverely has for Manchester United, but he's had more injury problems than Cleverely which does account for a lot. Having been loaned out to Bolton Wanderers in the 2009-2010 season, he was praised a lot by a lot of managers of teams he played against in that season which was counted a lot towards his first team progress in the premier league.
All i'm saying is i don't feel the need to compare the players abilities against one another as they not only play a completely different ball game when they play, they play different roles in their respective teams and when they both peak they should hopefully become class internationals in Englands team come future world tournaments and winning trophies for their clubs.
Saturday 12 January 2013
Friday 11 January 2013
Lionel Messi.
Now there's been a long, ongoing myth that Lionel Messi is only successful due to two of the greatest midfielders to ever grace the game.. Xavi and Andres Iniesta play in the midfield behind him and supply him all the time with assists? Sounds silly, right?
Now some people do have a point that he struggles in Argentina's side because his goal record isn't as prolific for Argentina as it is for Barcelona and there has to be a reason for that, which is what i'm going to try and explain.
Barcelona have made the "tiki taka" style of playing their own throughout their first team all the way through to their academy, otherwise known as total football which was played by the Holland team as far back as 1970 which was led by Johan Cruyff and the national team coach at the time! Now Pep Guardiola has stated himself that Johan Cruyff has taught him a lot when it comes to football and it's no coincidence that since Pep's arrival at Barcelona as head coach and Johan Cruyffs's placement in Barcelona's backroom staff that Barcelona adapted the "tiki taka" as their own style of play and soon it made it's way into the National team and is widely credited for Euro 2012, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2008 trophies that Spain have won since.?
Now, back to my original point about Lionel Messi and the two Spanish maestros..Messi doesn't struggle as such when he's in Argentina's squad, he just doesn't perform as well as he does for Barcelona and that's because Argentina do not play total football, no disrespect to Argentina's style of football however but they do not base their style of play to benefit Messi which is something Barcelona near enough do.
Having sacrificed some of the worlds greatest footballers and playing them out of position to benefit and get the best out of Lionel Messi, the likes of Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Villa .. Messi is basically given a free role within the team to pick up the ball whenever he pleases and run at defences once the said defences have been carved open with Barcelonas tiki-taka football.
The whole of Barcelona's team play to benefit Lionel Messi and that's not to criticize him whatsoever as he is a magnificent footballer and the team trust him a lot to basically give him the ball at any given opportunity as they know nine times out of ten, the ball will end up in the back of the net.
Now i believe myself that due to the small amount of tall players in Barcelonas team, this is why tiki-taka is so effective for Barcelona and Spains team, they have height where it matters in the team however in Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique in Spains team specifically.
Football's a very simple game, well.. it's as simple as you make it. Unless Argentina make some progress towards their international team playing Barcelona's style of play, they will simply not get the best out of Lionel Messi which would be a crying shame as a player as good as he is should be winning plenty of international honours around this time in his career and it would be a shame for him not to win anything with his country and people will always find that a reason as to why he's not "the greatest ever" or "the best in the world".
Now some people do have a point that he struggles in Argentina's side because his goal record isn't as prolific for Argentina as it is for Barcelona and there has to be a reason for that, which is what i'm going to try and explain.
Barcelona have made the "tiki taka" style of playing their own throughout their first team all the way through to their academy, otherwise known as total football which was played by the Holland team as far back as 1970 which was led by Johan Cruyff and the national team coach at the time! Now Pep Guardiola has stated himself that Johan Cruyff has taught him a lot when it comes to football and it's no coincidence that since Pep's arrival at Barcelona as head coach and Johan Cruyffs's placement in Barcelona's backroom staff that Barcelona adapted the "tiki taka" as their own style of play and soon it made it's way into the National team and is widely credited for Euro 2012, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2008 trophies that Spain have won since.?
Now, back to my original point about Lionel Messi and the two Spanish maestros..Messi doesn't struggle as such when he's in Argentina's squad, he just doesn't perform as well as he does for Barcelona and that's because Argentina do not play total football, no disrespect to Argentina's style of football however but they do not base their style of play to benefit Messi which is something Barcelona near enough do.
Having sacrificed some of the worlds greatest footballers and playing them out of position to benefit and get the best out of Lionel Messi, the likes of Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Villa .. Messi is basically given a free role within the team to pick up the ball whenever he pleases and run at defences once the said defences have been carved open with Barcelonas tiki-taka football.
The whole of Barcelona's team play to benefit Lionel Messi and that's not to criticize him whatsoever as he is a magnificent footballer and the team trust him a lot to basically give him the ball at any given opportunity as they know nine times out of ten, the ball will end up in the back of the net.
Now i believe myself that due to the small amount of tall players in Barcelonas team, this is why tiki-taka is so effective for Barcelona and Spains team, they have height where it matters in the team however in Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique in Spains team specifically.
Football's a very simple game, well.. it's as simple as you make it. Unless Argentina make some progress towards their international team playing Barcelona's style of play, they will simply not get the best out of Lionel Messi which would be a crying shame as a player as good as he is should be winning plenty of international honours around this time in his career and it would be a shame for him not to win anything with his country and people will always find that a reason as to why he's not "the greatest ever" or "the best in the world".
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